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I believe this is false. I have seen several sailing texts explicitly recommend the use of a retroreflector to improve the radar visibility of small fiberglass

• asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  Sorry, I should have specified that only illegitimate ships would have a reason for doing it for the purpose of hiding from scrutiny. I do not know all the other reasons why one might do this, but it seems to me based on the content of this article that the set of retroreflector hits less the AIS signatures would yield only illegitimate ships.
  • selfhoster11 5y ago
    > Sorry, I should have specified that only illegitimate ships would have a reason for doing it for the purpose of hiding from scrutiny. That smells of "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear"
    • asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      In the case of maritime travel, this is actually the law of the seas, as discussed in the article. Whether it's true or not that you have "nothing to hide", you are not allowed to sail "under the radar". Same as how you are mostly not allowed to fly without a transponder.
    • zsmi 5y ago
      I have very limited experience navigating in water but I would think collision avoidance would be an excellent reason to mandate AIS.
    • InitialLastName 5y ago
      It's more "a rule the US Navy and its agreeable subsidiaries are happy to enforce by strategic novel shipwreck generation".